The Local's Take: Mid-Day Commentary

Good Morning,

Don't get your panties in a wad. We are only down 3% off our highs. Yes, certain sectors (commodities) are lagging, but we knew this already from our sector breakdown.

Many commodity stocks showed signs of failure weeks ago and once the top was set, they came off very hard.

Is it time to buy dips? I am not sure. If you have protection on, I don't think so as we still have unemployment coming up in 48 hours. The risk is always to the downside, so I would wait for another leg down before selling puts/buying conservatively.

When I say buying conservatively, I am not looking for new highs. More like a swing trade to profit quickly from an oversold situation.

Obviously the down move in equities and the upmove in the dollar happened, for the most part, overnight. Teargas and rioting in the streets of Greece happened well before we woke up and our stock market/options market opened up.

I don't trade forex overnight as I like to be up during daylight and fortunately, there is enough movement during the US equity session (for about 9 months there wasn't but it looks like it is going to change...keep your fingers crossed that volatility stays at or above our current levels!!)

We did get some DOUBLE FALL LINE TRADES in certain cross pairs, but I wasn't willing to take it as I was waiting for the intraday (cough, cough) rally in equities to stall out a little bit higher then where it did.

Is a long term top in? 50/50 for me. But I will sell rallies at certain levels to protect the positions. It will take another 5-8% down in the sectors that are leading us to the downside to get me excited to buy.

No charts today as we are in the same exact place we closed yesterday (with a hanging tail). I will update them tomorrow as I will have a little more time to be in front of the markets.

I am off to the Utah Genius (yes, I just associated genius with me and this blog) to be presented with an award for top companies in Utah and there trademark work. This means that Locals Have More Fun has protected its various shirt designs and sayings and more importantly, sent lots of money to the government.

If anyone has questions on trademarking, I went to law school (Ray, Quinney, Nebeker) and learned the process well enough to be dangerous whereas Locals now protects its identity via management, not outsourcing.

Doug Fabrizio of NPR fame will be the keynote speaker and our favorite environmentalist, the GUV will be there as well.

Have a great day and remember, everyday is earth day. (Yes, that is me digging rainwater collection systems in the backyard)